This invention relates to a fixing device for fixing a grommet for the passage of a wire harness (installed, for example, in a vehicle or the like) therethrough so as to protect it.
Generally, one example of those members which are opened and closed relative to a vehicle body through a link mechanism is a trunk lid. In addition to tall lamps, a license plate lamp and a high-mount stop lamp, a wiper is mounted on the trunk lid in some kinds of cars as in a hatch back-type car. Therefore, it is necessary to install a wire harness (elongate member) between the vehicle body and the trunk lid so as to supply electric power to these parts.
This wire harness is passed through the bore of a grommet, and is protected by this grommet, the grommet including a first fixing portion of an annular shape for being fixed to the vehicle body, a second fixing portion of an annular shape for being fixed to the trunk lid, and a flexible tubular portion extending between the first fixing portion and the second fixing portion.
When the flexible tubular portion of the grommet is freely deformed during the opening and closing of the trunk lid, there is a fear that the wire harness is pinched by the trunk lid when the trunk lid is closed, so that the wire harness within this tubular portion is cut. Therefore, in the related structure, the tubular portion of the grommet is fixed to a plate member of the link mechanism through a clip, thereby preventing the tubular portion from being pinched by the trunk lid (see, for example, JP-A-2000-69642).
In the above related clip structure, however, the clip is fixed to the plate member of the link mechanism in such a manner that the clip generally embraces the plate member, and therefore there is encountered a problem that the clip tends to move or shake in the direction of the length of the plate member when the trunk lid is repeatedly opened and closed.